Episodes

Lentil as Anything, the dream of Sri-Lankan migrant Shanaka Fernando,
is in freefall. His chain of pay-as-u-feel restaurants owe a whopping
$160,000 to their suppliers, and after a bitter split over how to
rescue the crippled organization from bankruptcy, Shanaka’s two best
managers have both resigned. Now it’s down to Shanaka to find some way
to keep the doors open – not just for his customers but for the 100 or
so people who rely on Lentil for work, support and in some cases visa
sponsorship.

Shanaka Fernando’s dream - a chain of pay-as-u-feel restaurants
providing great food to everyone whether they can afford it or not, and
staffed by migrants and other marginalised people – has had a brutal
wake-up call. The organization is bleeding money and his managers,
Grace and Ramesh, are battling almost $100,000 in unpaid debts. They’re
facing imminent closure if they can’t find a way to turn it around. But
Shanaka is not going to let his dream die that easily, and convinces
the team to take one more huge risk…

Sri-Lankan migrant Shanaka Fernando has been running Lentil as
Anything, an eccentric collection of pay-as-u-feel restaurants built on
generosity and trust, for nine years and counting. The food is good,
the atmosphere is more like a friend’s lounge room, and the cash in the
money-boxes (there are no prices or cash registers) has been enough to
keep them going... until now.